Pregnant
by rosehill
Summary: What happens when Jedda falls pregnant at 17.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I didn't invent 'Defenders of the Earth' and I don't make money with it.

 _Pregnant_

Jedda Walker came home late that evening. She sat in a corner of a room and watched Zuffi playing for a moment. Then she got up and went to the rooftop silently.

The sun was setting. The sky was red, purple and orange, and it was a beautiful sight. Jedda couldn't help thinking of the sunsets in Bengala and it was comforting because…

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

She jumped and turned around, but it was only Rick, who was frowning at her.

"Watching the sunset!" she said.

"On the rooftop?"

"I just wanted some time alone."

He laughed.

"You know you've been acting really weird these days?" he asked. "Always wanting some time alone. What's the matter?"

She sighed. After all, it was his problem too. He had the right to know.

"Remember the fun we had in New York last month?" she asked.

Rick blushed and said:

"Do you wish we didn't? It was just a one-night-stand, you know, and I thought you were enjoying…"

"I'm pregnant."

Rick stared stupidly, opened his mouth a couple of times, scratched his head and finally said:

"Are you sure?"

"I took a test today. It's positive. Two weeks and a half pregnant."

"But… the condom…"

"Condoms aren't 100% reliable. I'm sorry, Rick. I'm pregnant with your cells!"

Rick tried hard to find something to say. Congratulations were out of the question as this pregnancy hadn't been planned. Apologizes were not the best thing to say as that intercourse had been perfectly consensual. Eventually, he stretched his arms out and hugged her awkwardly. She hugged him back.

"What do you want to do?" he asked.

"Interrupting my pregnancy, I guess."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! I can't have a kid at 17. I know it's not family tradition but it's too early for me."

"Family tradition?" Rick asked, dumbfounded.

"Well, all Phantoms have to reproduce early to be able to see their kids grow up and teach them everything they know. My father was 18 when I was born. It's sort of traditional."

Rick laughed nervously.

"You know, there's a huge difference between your dad and you", he said. "You have a womb, he doesn't! Technically, he didn't have to give up too many things after your conception!"

"So, you're on my side?" Jedda asked.

"Do whatever you want. I'll try to help. But maybe you'd better think a lot before: I heard about women who became depressive after an abortion."

"I'll gather information, then", Jedda said thoughtfully. "Thanks."

 _To be continued..._


	2. Chapter 2

The day after was Sunday and Jedda decided to go to a hospital to get information. It was going to be tricky: she was a famous person after all, and she didn't want her face to appear on the news. She browsed her wardrobe and found a pink, flowery summer dress she had never worn before, flip-flops and sunglasses. It looked very different from her usual black clothes.

"I look like a careless girly girl, now", she said while tying her hair up. "Kitha, you're going to stay here. People will know who I am at once if they see you with me."

So she took the bus to that hospital. She was hoping to see no one around but unfortunately, there were many people brandishing signs and shouting.

"Stop killing babies!" a big man shouted while throwing a leaflet at her.

Jedda stepped back. She wasn't afraid of ice robots or wild beasts but those people were utterly scary.

"I'm not killing anybody", she answered. _I actually saved dozen of lives up to now. Don't shout at me._

"Don't enter that place!" a woman cried. "They'll convince you to kill your innocent baby! It's already a human being! It has feelings! Don't kill it!"

Jedda stepped back. Being a good fighter, she wasn't afraid of those extremists. She was just worried about them snatching her sunglasses and identifying her as the Phantom's daughter. So she stepped back and she went into a small café. She was going to wait.

She ordered a lemon tea and started reading a book she had brought. One hour passed and those people were still shouting and waving their signs. She sighed and decided to have a look at the leaflet. There was a poem on the front:

 _Month One: Mommy, I am only 8 inches long, but I have all my organs. I love the sound of your voice. Every time I hear it, I wave my arms and legs. The sound of your heart beat is my favorite lullaby._

Jedda frowned. Eight inches? At one month? Was it a human embryo or a whale? And how could it have all its organs and hear clearly at only one month? The person who had written that piece of glurge had never opened a biology book _ever_.

Everything else was of that type.

 _If Flash Gordon's mother had aborted, the universe wouldn't be a safe place…_

Hello? If Ming the Merciless's mother had aborted, the universe would be a way better place!

 _Most women feel depressed after an abortion, they all get breast cancer and womb perforations…_

This had never been scientifically proved.

 _Raising a baby after a rape will make you feel much better…_

Jedda slammed the leaflet against the window. How could human beings say such revolting stuff? Telling a rape survivor how she was supposed to feel? That was disgusting!

So she went back home, nauseated. No, she was not going to enter that hospital, definitely not. She had to find another place, somewhere she wouldn't be judged about her choices. But where?

The young defender didn't sleep much that night. She kept making nightmares about anti-choice activists tying her to a wall and writing "property" on her belly.

* * *

The day after, Jedda remembered something from her childhood. Being raised by a single father, she had never talked much about sexual things with him. However, Soala, the Bandar medicine woman, had filled that role. She had told her about periods and growing breasts but she had also told her things most girls never hear.

 _Sometimes a pregnant woman gets a bad spirit in her body. She seems to be pregnant but it's just a demon soul inside her. So we older women take her to the red tree and make her eat the leaves. Then we all sing and pray. When the woman loses blood, it means that the bad spirit is gone and it's a joy for us all…_

"Thank you, Soala", Jedda whispered. "You were describing me a pregnancy gone wrong and an abortion! I just have to go back to Bengala and find the red tree you showed me when I was twelve. I'll do that!"

* * *

Luckily, the adult defenders were all away that day. All of them, except her father. She tried to look innocent and sometimes she would jump when he were addressing her. Of course he wouldn't approve of what she was going to do. But it was her body, after all!

Then she had a doubt. She hid in her room and she concentrated, trying hard to feel her embryo's presence. Having telepathic powers, she could communicate with all animals and with humans who were blood related or had magical abilities. And she could hear…

Nothing. It couldn't feel or think yet, just like she expected. Kitha had more soul that this tiny bunch of cells. So it wouldn't be a bad thing. Anyway, half of pregnancies aborted spontaneously before the second month, didn't they?

The day went smoothly and she pretended to go to bed. She wrote a note saying that she was thinking of her dead mother and had to go to her graveyard in Bengala, and she put it onto her bed, just in case. It was a stupid excuse, but it was the best she could think of. Then she went down to the hangar and jumped into a jet. Kitha followed her, apparently sensing that she was about to do something important.

 _To be continued..._


	3. Chapter 3

The journey lasted only a few hours and she landed far away from the Bandar territory. Having good night vision and great orientation skills, she found her way quite easily. She didn't feel sad or worried, not at all. She just had a slightly weird feeling.

She remember something Soala had told her and she stopped at a small river to wash her face and hands. Kitha rubbed her head at her knees and she patted her. Then she got up and walked until she reached a small clearing. In the middle was standing a tree covered in red leaves and white flowers.

Jedda remembered how women who did the 'blood ceremony' were supposed to say something before. She kneeled and thought about. Then she said:

"Hello, I wish to make the little thing in my body leave me. I'm asking for the spirit of the red tree to help me. Please, take the thing inside me and take the energies that would have made it grow. Transmit these energies to the living things around me. Release this to-be soul and… accept my prayers."

Jedda wasn't even sure it was the correct thing to say. However, she felt the tree was actually listening to her and approved – or at least, didn't disapprove. So she walked slowly, tore a leaf delicately and started chewing.

It tasted bad. Jedda swallowed and knelt to pat Kitha, who seemed to understand what was happening and put hear head onto her lap. Jedda ate more leaves and waited until she felt a slight pain, like a painful period. Then she felt wet between her legs.

 _I remember all the ceremonials when a baby was born. People would say there were invisible souls all around us and one of those souls chose the baby to live inside. Now maybe I'm releasing a little soul and it will be born again later. Have a nice journey, little soul!_

Jedda waited for some time, and then she decided to walk back to the jet. She was starting to feel hungry. Suddenly, she felt a presence not far from her. She stopped and braced herself. It was either a Bandar or…

"Come with me."

Her father. How did he find her? She stepped forward; there was no point in trying to hide anyway. It felt so weird, being there with him in the middle of the night.

"You weren't visiting your mother, were you?" he asked.

Jedda tried to think very fast. He had probably found her jet with everything she believed she needed: pads, paracetamol, chocolate and even a first-aid kit. There was no point in lying.

"No."

"Then what are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

"Father, I was pregnant."

For a split second, his face went to at least a dozen different expression: surprise, fear, doubt, denial and so on. Then he asked:

"Are you sure?"

"Definitely. Please, don't blame me."

"Was it consensual?"

 _That's my father! His first concern is_ always _my safety. Ok, let's tell him not to worry._

"Definitely. There was a… condom accident, that's all."

He sighed and rubbed his head before asking:

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well… I believed you would tell me to carry on the pregnancy. I'm not ready for being a mom, you know."

"I understand."

"I still need to wait for… wait, what?"

The Phantom embraced her daughter and kissed her forehead. Then he loosened his hug and glanced at her belly.

"Is it painful?" he asked.

"Not too much. It feels a bit like periods on a bad day. You mean you're not mad at me?"

He shook his head slowly.

"Not at all. Did I ever tell you in which circumstances you were born?"

"No. Was I an unwanted baby?"

"You were an unexpected baby. I was only 18 and your mother was hardly older when she told me she was pregnant. She really wanted to keep you and I believed it was her choice so I tried to support her as much as I could. You know she died a few months after you were born and it was a shock for me. I tried to raise you as well as I could but sometimes I feel I was too young and to immature to be a good father."

"Don't worry", Jedda said. "You're a wonderful father."

"Thank you. I don't wish you were never born. I just wish you were born a few years later so I understand you prefer to wait."

"So", Jedda asked slowly, "you're not mad at me?"

"I'm mad at you for not telling me exactly what you were up to! Running away in the middle of the night, what were you thinking?"

She laughed nervously. She felt like laughing and crying at the same time and she also felt a bit stupid for underestimating her father's open-mindedness. Oh, this was so emotional!

"Sorry", she said. "I ran into anti-choice activists and they said horrible stuff so I felt a bit upset."

"I understand. Let's go back to central City now."

"No, please! I heard I shouldn't leave Bandar soil before the ritual is over. Can we just stay for a few hours?"

She knew she probably sounded superstitious but he nodded and they found a comfortable place to sit and wait. She eventually dozed and he had to wake her up at sunrise. Surprisingly, she just felt a bit sad about leaving the place. They hadn't spent time together for some time, after all, and it had been a nice binding moment.

 _To be concluded..._


	4. Chapter 4

**Six years later**

Jedda was lying in a hospital bed. She was feeling exhausted and dizzy. A knock at her door made her flinch. She said something and her father appeared.

"I came as fast as I could!" he said.

"Thanks! But you didn't need to worry. Everything went perfectly."

"And the baby?"

"They're all right."

Jedda gesture at a cradle just next to her. The Phantom moved closer and asked:

"They?"

"Twins!" she laughed. "One boy, one girl. Both perfectly healthy. Surprising?"

"Not too surprising. It happened before in our family. How do you feel?"

"Great."

Jedda sat up and had a closer look at the twins. Now they were deeply asleep. She already loved them so much! She was really exhausted, but also really happy.

"I know I shouldn't ask you this question", his father asked, "but are you really going to be OK? 23 is still a bit young for raising a family."

"Father", she said, "I'm fine! I want to have kids now. I'm ready!"

"And you're going to be a wonderful mother, I know it."

Jedda laughed.

"Father, please, I'm very tired now", she said. "Can I please have some time alone?"

The Phantom bent down and put a kiss onto both twins' foreheads. Then he held his daughter's hand for a few seconds and left the room silently.

 _The end!_

Author's note: this was my pro-choice fic. I live in a country where pro-life people are currently doing very creepy things, pretending to be here to help and giving false information and guilt trips to pregnant women who cannot or don't want to carry on their pregnancy. We live in a very weird world! Thanks for reading this fiction. :)


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